


To Be Protected

by Noventia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Kinda, Ritual Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 14:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17941721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noventia/pseuds/Noventia
Summary: Lily Potter was scarily intelligent; anyone who ever met her would say the same. So when her family is threatened by a Monster she will do anything she can to save them; even if it means sacrificing herself. But there are always things that can't be anticipated...





	To Be Protected

**Author's Note:**

> If this seems familiar it's because I posted this over on FF.net back in 2014. I've edited it a bit and am going to start re-posting it here.  
> This story was inspired by 'Father Figure' by Alebrewer over on FF.net

It was the perfect night for something to go wrong.

Howling wind was the backdrop to slashes of lightning and great rumbles of thunder; rain lashed at the streets and was unforgiving to all who dared venture outside. One house looked as though it was readying itself for catastrophe. At least, the people within were. This house, covered as it was in ivy and wild roses decorating the garden, looked entirely ordinary; however, if one were to glance in through the windows on this night one would see a very strange thing.

A woman, hair like molten copper falling past her shoulders, sat on the floor of what appeared to be a living room, though it was difficult to tell as all the furniture had been pushed to the walls. She was knelt before a small cauldron, two small containers and a paintbrush; an odd combination without paint or paper to accompany them. Swaying as though in a trance, she waved her arms around her gracefully, her fingers splayed and eyes rolling behind her eyelids; a movement behind her ceased her movement though her eyes remained closed.

A man with ebony hair and glasses stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a child no more than a year old held securely in his arms.

"Are you sure about this Lily?" The man addressed the woman.

"It's the only way to ensure our son lives James, and if done correctly, we will live too." Lily's voice was soft, and yet it radiated confidence and her belief in the necessity of her actions. "Bring him here. Come, and kneel across from me James. Help me save our son." James didn't show any sign of hesitating. He walked across the room to kneel before his wife. The mother of the bundle of joy he held in his arms. The child they were risking everything for.

"How do we do this?" James' was uncertain; he didn't know what this ritual would do like Lily did. He hadn't done the research like she had done. Smiling, Lily looked up at him; he gazed into her emerald green eyes, the same eyes that he saw when he looked at his son. No matter what she said, he would trust her; he would follow her to the ends of the earth. He would do anything to protect his family.

"We mix our blood with Jade, to symbolize our love for him, and Carnelian to aid in the magic shielding and protection. We're going to forge a shield James, made of our own magic and life force to protect him. With the magic of the stones and our magic combined we will draw the runes Eihwaz, to give the shield strength, Sowilo, to give our life force, and finally Algiz, to ward off evil; to shield." Lily's voice did not weaken as she spoke, she did not show that she was afraid; for she wasn't. "Rituals are a personal act James, they are invoked to do many different things, but they all do the same thing; call on ones will to reach a goal. We will call on our will and magic to protect our son; that is our goal. We must trust in the magic, in our magic and we must sacrifice to do this. That is why we must use our blood; something must be sacrificed." In the dim light created by the moon and lightning outside, James looked at the woman across from him. He had always thought her beautiful, thought her intelligent, thought her worth everything. At this moment, she had never been more to him than she was in this moment, not even when she had given him an heir and son had she been so magnificent to him as she was now, bathed in moonlight with her eyes flashing with the determination of a lioness to protect her cub.

"We had best get started then, we don't know how long we have." Lily reached high into the air, summoning a dagger from upstairs. It was long, with an ornately decorated hilt, but the details were lost on her as she held it firmly in her hands.

"I call on magic from the earth, the air, the water and the flames.

I call on your strength to protect my child,

I draw on your powers to feed his life,

I call on your favour so that his enemies shall feel his might,

I sacrifice myself so that this is true.

I call upon you, I call upon you.

So Mote It Be!"

With the last note of her words still ringing in the air Lily slashed her palm open with the dagger, letting her blood flow freely into the cauldron before her. She looked up at James, her eyes bright with the magic she had invoked. James took the now bloody dagger from her hands and lifted it himself.

"I call on magic from the earth, the air, the water and the flames.

I call on your strength to protect my child,

I draw on your powers to feed his life,

I call on your favour so that his enemies shall feel his might,

I sacrifice myself so that this is true.

I call upon you, I call upon you.

So Mote It Be!"

And just as Lily had done, James slashed the dagger through the air and across his palm, adding his own blood to the cauldron. Magic was glittering in the air so concentrated it was visible. Lily picked up the paintbrush, whilst James removed the lid from the containers. He emptied the first, full of sparkling Jade dust, and emptied it into the cauldron as Lily began to stir

"So Mote It Be" Lily whispered, the bowl and its contents beginning to glow, casting an eerie light across her face. James lifted the last container, filled with the dust of the Carnelian stone, and tipped it in with a final whisper of;

"So Mote It Be."

Lily stirred for a moment, and then when the glow reached a near blinding point, she began to paint. She began to paint runes onto her child. Sowilo on his forehead, Eihwaz on his right hand and Algiz on his left, and finally, she dipped her hand in the mixture and pressed it against his heart.

There was a blinding flash of light, and Lily was thrown back from her position touching her son. James struggled up from his own kneeling position, still clutching the slumbering child to him as he hurried to ensure his wife was alright. Lily moaned from her position against the wall, she was certain her ribs had cracked at the force of the blow.

"I'm alright, bruised but fine, how's Harry?" James moved his gaze from his wife, now sitting up against the wall cradling her ribs, to Harry.

"He's fine; the marks remain, but barely." He looked once again at the woman who never ceased to amaze him. She smiled tiredly at him.

"The marks will remain until they are needed." Her voice was quiet, breathless. James felt his heartbeat quicken as he knelt by her, his free hand winding through her hair.

"Lily? Are you alright?" He didn't recall her mentioning that the ritual would have this effect on her.

"I'm fine, just tired; my life force and magic are being used to protect him after all." She smirked at him, clearly teasing. "The ritual takes what it needs to protect from me, and I give it freely, that is what was sacrificed. Our blood allowed for the anchor that keeps my magic flowing to him, and it shall remain that way until the task is done, or I am dead. And if I do die before it been finished, then my magic and soul will stay with him, protecting him until I am no longer needed." James gazed in awe at her; her tired eyes staring at him defiantly, daring him to say that what she had done was the wrong thing, that such a thing as binding her magic to him was dark. But he didn't. How could he do something that would hurt her? The woman who was ready to give up everything to protect the child they had made together? The child they both loved dearly.

Harry woke then, bright green eyes opening wide to look around him. They settled on his mother.

"Ma!" James laughed as Harry struggled to loosen his grasp and go to his mother. Lily smiled and opened her arms wide for him.

"Hello Munchkin, did you have a good sleep?" James gently set Harry on her lap, his small hands going into her hair almost immediately. Lily laughed fondly as she tried to loosen his grip.

A sound outside disrupted the happy scene; a sound that did not belong to the storm. James tensed, the unmistakable sound of boots made their way closer to the front door. He glanced fearfully at his wife, seated on the floor, still too weak to move from the exertion. He looked towards the stairs, calculating the chance of him getting both her and Harry to his nursery before whoever was out there reached them.

A new sound reached his ears. A slithering noise, as though something was sliding along the ground. He paled. Voldemort was here, and he'd brought his pet snake.

James reached for his wand, but it was too late; the door was blasted off its hinges in a haze of red light and a figure stepped into the house. Tall, with red eyes that scorned all they looked at. Voldemort gazed at James standing before his family and laughed.

"If you wish to die then by all means remain there. But all I want is the child. Move aside and both of you will be allowed to live. Surely you can have another? You are not so attached yet, barely a year old. You shan't miss him." Voldemort's gaze was cruel, and James knew that he would not keep his word; their only chance was the ritual now.

He turned to face Lily, question clear in his eyes. She smiled and nodded at him, and so he walked to the kitchen, and hoped that she was right; prayed that she was right.

Lily stared into the eyes of the monster that was threatening her family, and was surprised that she did not feel anger, or disgust as she had expected to; no, all she felt was pity. What must he have gone through to think that this was the only way? Who must have betrayed him for him to act out at all others the way he did? She did not know, and so all she could do was cradle her son in her arms and quiet his fears.

"You will step aside?" His voice was hoarse and rough, and Lily cringed at the sound.

"No, I will not."

"Very well then Mother and son shall die together; how very fitting." He lifted his wand and spoke the words that all wizards and witches feared.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Many things Voldemort expected to happen; the seemingly weakened Witch would jump up and fight, or the husband would return. What he did not expect was a silvery form of Lily Potter to leap at him from the body of her son, and so all he did was stand there and scream as the spirit tore through him, shredding what remained of his soul and tearing his flesh from his bones, the hissing cries of his familiar was the last thing he heard.

Cold wind blew across Godric's Hollow that night; lifting the remains of smoke up and over the rest of the town. The air was thick and still charged with magic, and within the house almost destroyed by magic a man lay unconscious and a child lay clutched against his dead mother's chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!


End file.
